11-04-2008, 07:12 AM
As a grand old UAB Alum, I feel it necessary to make sure that when people enter "UAB Building One" into a search engine, they get the real story instead of a guess. I graduated UAB in 1988 Cum Laude after a four year stint in the Blazer Band. Additionally, my mom did Master's study at UAB in the late 70s and early 80s, so I was around for a good deal of the school's explosive history.
UAB Building One is “Building One” because, prior to the Student Center, which opened in the late 80s, Building One was the only place for students to gather. When I started UAB in the early 80s, our student center was the 20 foot row of vending machines and plastic chairs in “Building One”. I keenly remember the opening of the student center and the legitimacy it lent to UAB. I keenly remember the gumbo soup and cornbread served in the new “Student Center” dining room. (I ate this on Black Monday October 19, 1987. I also keenly remember watching the first shuttle craft crash on the UAB student center big screen.) I also remember when a staple source of UAB's growth was via the acquisition of cheap nearby real estate; thus our classroom buildings and bookstores often bore strong resemblances to the elementary schools, hotels and grocery stores that had been acquired.
Why am I waxing at such length on this topic? Because alums and students of the “new UAB” should know and appreciate how far the school has come in its 40 years.
UAB was never a simple “commuter college”. It was always a site of economical intellectual challenge for gifted folks with big ideas but limited budgets.
It is wonderful to see that you new Blazers see yourselves as full fledged coeds. Those of us who came before you just want you to know how this came about. So talk to the profs and old-school administrators and record the old stories so that people will know that academic excellence and success can flourish anywhere if appropriately nurtured.
UAB Building One is “Building One” because, prior to the Student Center, which opened in the late 80s, Building One was the only place for students to gather. When I started UAB in the early 80s, our student center was the 20 foot row of vending machines and plastic chairs in “Building One”. I keenly remember the opening of the student center and the legitimacy it lent to UAB. I keenly remember the gumbo soup and cornbread served in the new “Student Center” dining room. (I ate this on Black Monday October 19, 1987. I also keenly remember watching the first shuttle craft crash on the UAB student center big screen.) I also remember when a staple source of UAB's growth was via the acquisition of cheap nearby real estate; thus our classroom buildings and bookstores often bore strong resemblances to the elementary schools, hotels and grocery stores that had been acquired.
Why am I waxing at such length on this topic? Because alums and students of the “new UAB” should know and appreciate how far the school has come in its 40 years.
UAB was never a simple “commuter college”. It was always a site of economical intellectual challenge for gifted folks with big ideas but limited budgets.
It is wonderful to see that you new Blazers see yourselves as full fledged coeds. Those of us who came before you just want you to know how this came about. So talk to the profs and old-school administrators and record the old stories so that people will know that academic excellence and success can flourish anywhere if appropriately nurtured.